Colorado State University Archaeologist Discovers Ancient Lost City in Mexico

FORT COLLINS - A Colorado State University archaeologist and his team have discovered the ruins of an ancient urban center in the heart of the
Purépecha Empire in Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, located in the central Mexican state of Michoacán.

Graphic model of ancient building complex

At the time of European contact, the Purépecha Empire - sometimes called the Tarascan Empire - controlled much of western Mexico with a mutually
fortified frontier shared with their rivals, the Aztecs to the east.

Graphic model of pyramid complex

The settlement may be as large as 5 square kilometers and dates to A.D. 1000-1520. Initial results suggest the peak occupation of the newly
discovered urban center occurred just prior to the formation of the Purépecha Empire, further indicating that results from the study may yield new
clues regarding the empire’s formation.

Among the fertile volcanoes of Michoacan Lumholtz came across the Purepecha people, who were called Tarascan by the Spanish. Enemies of the Aztecs,
the Tarascans flourished from 1100 A.D. to 1530 A.D. Their origins are still a puzzle, along with their stirrup-shaped, long-necked bottles and round
temples called Yacatas. The center of the Tarascan Empire was Lake Patzcuaro and the nearby site of Tzintzuntzan, now a much-visited archaeological
site (Map of area). After the Conquest, Spanish missionaries organized the Tarascan Empire into a series of experimental Utopian craft-oriented
villages, and today the Lake Patzcuaro area abounds with craftspeople skilled in wood, copper, cloth and clay.

A house feature being excavated

I think there will be more detail to come once this has been presented to the annual Society for American Archaeology. I hope a detailed map and some
good pictures will be released then.

Interesting find! Ancient civilizations has always been an interest of mine. There's just no telling how many more cities in Mexico and South
America that have been covered by jungle awaiting to be discovered.

An entire city that has been uninhabited for just 500 years, has completely eluded archeologists? To me, THAT is the most significant aspect of this
story.

It really gives me a new appreciation of the far older sites that are still intact. We think that our 100 story skyscrapers will last centuries.
Wrong. Metal oxidizes and these buildings must be renovated every 20 or so years. To create a long-lasting structure, you simply have to make it out
of stone, or composite materials. If we were wiped out and the sea level rose 20 meters, there would be far fewer traces of our presence after a
couple centuries than the average person would suspect.

Also it makes me think of how many as-yet undiscovered civilizations might still be out there just under our noses.

I wanted to know a little bit more about the Tarascan people....but i didn't expect something like this...

Tarascan (təräˈskən) [key], Native Americans of the state of Michoacán, Mexico. Their language has no known relation to other languages, and
their history prior to the 16th cent. is poorly understood. The polity present at the time of the Spanish conquest (1521) had roughly the same
territorial outline as the contemporary state of Michoacán, which it successfully defended against a protracted and bloody Aztec attack in the year
1479. Their capital, Tzintzuntzán [place of the hummingbirds], was located on the shore of Lake Pátzcuaro and had a population of 25,000 to 35,000.
Peculiar to Tarascan culture were T-shaped pyramids, rising in terraces and faced with stone slabs without mortar. They were skilled weavers, and were
famous for their feathered mosaics made from hummingbird plumage. Most of the over 100,000 contemporary Tarascans are impoverished residents of small
rural communities who supplement agricultural production with craft specializations (e.g., weaving, embroidery, woodworking, and lacquerware) and
seasonal migration to the United States.

Like the Aztecs, the Tarascans had many deities, each with their own attributes, requirements, sacred colors, associated animals, and calendrical
days. The most ancient and revered Tarascan deity was Curicaueri, the fire god. A Tarascan origin myth tells the story of how Curicaueri and his
brother gods founded the settlements around Lake Pátzcuaro. The pre-Columbian Tarascans believed themselves to be Curicaueri's descendants. When
rulers and priests dressed in their ritual finery and performed ceremonial dances, they were affirming the connection to their ancestor gods.

The Aztecs attempted more than once to conquer the Tarascan lands, but never attained their goal. This left the Aztecs with a major rival on their
western border. In combat they repeatedly suffered grievous losses to the Tarascan armies. For example, in 1478 the ruling Aztec lord, Axayacatl,
marched against the Tarascans. He found his army of 24,000 confronted by an opposing force of more than 40,000 Tarascan warriors. A ferocious battle
went on all day. Many of the Aztec warriors were badly wounded by arrows, stones, spears, and sword thrusts. The following day, the Aztecs were forced
to retreat, having suffered the loss of more than half of their elite warriors.

They kicked Aztec ass, what does that say about them and surprise, surprise. Another Meso-american culture with references to the stars... Wiki

In the region of Zacapu, Curicaueri is referred to as Querenda-angapeti, which means "the penalty which is in the Temple".

According to the mythology of the Purépecha culture - particularly of the clan uacusecha- Curicaueri is considered the most ancient deity and which
gave rise to the rest of the gods. The Sun is known as a son of Caricaueri and dies every day in the West as a victim of the night, being banished by
the young sun or Curicaueri grandson. Thus combines the Trinity of the fire, which is interpreted in a similar way with three stars in the
constellation of Taurus: Aldebaran, Beta and gamma. In the sky three stars resemble the parahtacuqua, which is an instrument used by the Purépecha to
light the fire.

.... but one oddity is that they are claiming to have found an 'ancient urban center' which they did, but the fact that there were ruins in that
area has been known since the 16th century and a great deal of ecological work has been done in the past around and in that lake district.

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